Conversation Hearts
by 263Adder
Summary: Unsurprisingly, Five Hargreeves doesn't think much of Valentine's Day. But when a gift is propelled at him by a fan, it doesn't take him long to decide who should have it. Series: Paper Chains Part 2.


While the others got soft toys and flowers, Five was the one to get hard candy pelted at his head as they exited the police station. Considering his attitude towards the 'holiday', it seemed rather appropriate.

The usual crowds had gathered after their latest mission. To his annoyance they had decided to celebrate the day by descending on the Umbrella Academy with more ferociousness than usual, bombarding them with gifts, and they were going to extra lengths to get themselves noticed by the children – one boy even attempting to scale a lamppost so his banner would be seen more prominently over the others. Some police officers on crowd control luckily managed to coax him down before he fell.

Predictably, most of his siblings eagerly scooped up the offerings although it would likely only be Allison and Luther who Reginald would permit to keep the gifts.

Shaking a box of candy curiously, one of the many thrown at him, Five pocketed it with a frown. It didn't look particularly appealing but sweets were such a rare indulgence for the children it seemed wasteful to discard them.

Getting into the car behind Ben, who looked far more relaxed than he had on last week's mission – given there had been no need to utilise the eldritch – Five looked around at his teammate's acquisitions.

Allison had three stuffed animals crowded on her lap and a large, colourful bouquet clutched in her fist. The flowers were stuffed under Luther's nose, as he was tightly squished in beside her, but he didn't complain, focused more on the model plane had been given by an overzealous girl. Unlike Allison, Luther hadn't noticed the girls near swoon when Luther stopped to receive her gift, admiring the craftsmanship that had gone into it before exclaiming he'd add it to his collection.

He also hadn't noticed Allison rumouring the girl to go away once he'd moved along.

Luther didn't notice much, Five thought derisively.

Klaus, like Allison, had a stuffed toy curled possessively to his chest – what looked like a giraffe though he was squishing it so tightly it was hard to tell.

Like Five, Diego and Ben had stuck to food. They would have to check it before consumption, there was always the risk of someone attempting to attack them through the crowds yet at a glance, the wrappers looked fine and Five couldn't see any puncture marks.

Abhijat drove them back to the mansion and, after the children thanked him, they marched inside. He'd driven fast enough to evade the crowd and press following them across the city, and they were able to get home without fighting their way past more fervent fans.

Pogo was waiting for them in the foyer, as he always was to ensure there were no injuries.

Vanya was just passing to the staircase, a precursory glance at the clock showing Five she must have just finished her French lesson. When they came in she paused, clearly relieved they were home. After checking for any obvious injuries, her eyes quickly became fastened on the haul several of them held – in particular the bouquet Allison was still fawning over.

Once Reginald had strode past them for his office, as usual offering no words of praise for their successful mission, Allison turned to Pogo to ask for a vase, excitedly bouncing on her toes as she gushed over how beautiful her flowers were.

Rolling his eyes, Five broke away from their formation and headed for the stairs.

"How was it?" Vanya asked, falling into step beside him.

"Pretty easy. I barely even worked up a sweat." Five replied. In truth, he nearly got stabbed twice but telling Vanya that would only make her worry more.

"Big crowd?" She asked as they reached the landing.

"Standard." He shrugged. "You should have seen it out there though, all the fuss people were making about _Valentine's Day_. There were love hearts everywhere, and everything was pink and red. What a _stupid_ holiday. Why do people need an entire day to tell people they love them? Just say it whenever, you don't need a day dedicated to it."

"Yeah." Vanya sighed unhappily.

Deciding not to keep her waiting any longer, Five fished the box from his pocket.

"I took these for you." He said, offering them up. "They're not flowers or teddy bears, but I'm not living with the ridicule of carrying those around. So you'll have to settle for candy."

Vanya's hand eagerly stretched out for his shitty gift and he couldn't resist pulling back to keep her waiting a little longer. Only when she glanced up at him with a shy smile, did he offer them up – bumping the tip of her nose with the box to encourage her to take them.

"Thank you, Five."

"I had them thrown at my head, it's not like I went to much effort."

"Still," Vanya said, turning the box to read the wrapper. "Sweethearts?"

"I've never had them before so they might taste like crap." Five said, looking critically at the pastel-coloured sweets. "I looked it over in the car though and they seem all right. But if they taste bad, we'll just have to use it as ammo the next time Klaus starts a food fight. Those look like they could take out an eye."

"One way to find out," Vanya said, peeling off the cellophane and opening the top. She took out one of the circular sweets and realised there was a message on the front which she held up to her face to read. "Be mine." She read, blushing a pretty pink when she realised what she had just said aloud.

Five squirmed. He didn't know they had messages like that on them. Still, he wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Vanya Hargreeves." He teased, leaning over her. "Are you asking me to be your Valentine?"

Her eyes widened with worry, so Five tugged on her ear to let her know he was kidding.

"Relax. I know you can do better than me."

Blush darkening, Vanya stammered: "Five, that's..."

"I hope you enjoy them." He said, backing away from her as he could hear the others coming up the stairs. "I'd better go work on my homework."

With that he hurried away, wondering what would have happened if he hadn't given her an out.

* * *

Walking back to her room, the box of candy fiercely clutched in both hands as if she expected one of the others to snatch it from her as they walked past her to their bedrooms, Vanya closed the door behind her.

She had only learned of Valentine's Day's existence because of Allison, who had loudly chattered about it a few weeks ago when they were heading down to breakfast. Vanya thought she'd spoken so noisily as she was hoping Luther, or anyone really, would get her a gift in celebration. Today it seemed she had gotten them.

Vanya had listened carefully to Five when he challenged Allison's gushing prose about the holiday. How it was rooted in the brutal murder of a saint. His story had then been jumped on by Diego, who said that it was all just hyped-up nonsense used to guilt couples into spending lots of money.

On face value, she could see how it could be interpreted as frivolous. But Allison's words had wormed its way past her logic.

An entire day dedicated to _love_; something Vanya wouldn't object to a little more of.

Given her past experiences of holidays and her family, she hadn't got her hopes up. Yet, when she had seen the other children return from their mission, after her initial flood of relief that they had all made it back unscathed, a sudden fit of envy had attacked her as she finally noticed what they held in their hands.

To further realise that they had come from their fans, from absolute _strangers_ – all the while Vanya was sat in their family home, surrounded by her supposed family, people who were _meant_ to love her, and she had received absolutely nothing – not a single token of love. She'd nearly bitten the end of her tongue clean off she had to bite down so hard, knowing that tears would only earn her scorn.

Five had noticed, that was why he had given her this, she thought as she looked down at her gift. And, instead of keeping her cool, she had immediately embarrassed herself.

Clearing her desk of her homework, Vanya tipped out the remaining candy and spread it around. She turned the sweets text-side up and began to read them.

Fixating on one fairly quickly, Vanya plucked it up.

Five had been joking about being her Valentine. She was certain. And yet, when he told her she could do better (a ridiculous statement she would have refuted if her embarrassment hadn't gotten in the way) he had looked disappointed.

_No_. That couldn't have been it, he was just bored with the conversation. After all, why had he hurried away so quickly?

Thinking about it, Vanya wondered what he would have said if she _had_ asked him.

Probably that having a Valentine was yet another part of this dumb holiday. Either that or he would have simply humoured her by saying yes, which she was sure would have made her feel worse. Five was always doing things to make her happy, a result of his never-ending pity. He was a good person like that, but she wasn't deserving of it.

Holding the candy in her hand, she realised how ridiculous her imagination was being. How would he react to this? A single sweet, starting to go sticky from sitting in her palm for so long, given to him by his _adopted sister_, saying something so tacky, in celebration of a holiday he had openly disparaged.

It was beyond ridiculous and yet she somehow forced herself to stand up, open the door and hurry along to Five's bedroom upstairs.

Tapping on the door, she waited for his impatient: "Come in."

Slipping inside, she found him bent over his homework scribbling furiously.

"You okay, Vanya?" Five asked absently, somehow knowing it was her without even looking up.

Moving to his side, she held out her hand. "I realised I never offered you one. The candy?"

His pen slowed, but Five kept looking at his workbook. "It was a gift. For _you_. You don't need to share it."

"I know. But we hardly ever get sweets, and you've never tried them before either." Vanya gulped, feeling increasingly stupid by the second. What did she even think would happen? He'd look down and see _'_I'm Yours_'_ and...and _nothing_, he'd think she had chosen it at random.

He looked up at her, watching her carefully as he so often did before he snatched up her offering.

She willed him to break her gaze and look down at the sweet, at her chosen message, but to her dismay, he ate it without his eyes leaving hers for a second.

"Thanks, Vanya."

"You're welcome, Five." She mumbled, backing away to leave him in peace.

_Why did she have to be so stupid _was her parting thought, as she weakly closed the door behind her.

* * *

Day two. This one had to go to Lofticries, as you substituted as Google for me when I was being lazy and without you I would have called them love hearts, and they'd be in a roll not a box, and it wouldn't be right. It's probably too fluffy for you, but that's what I do. Well, until day five but someone else has already called dibs on that one. Plus you got me into the Fiveya community, which I really appreciate, and I love your works. So here you go.

To everyone else, I hope you enjoyed day two!


End file.
